On a Wing and a Prayer

The walls of the hospital were a gloomy gray, the floor a bloodcurdling red, and the institutionalized chairs so dreary; I couldn’t bring myself to sit-down. I just stood there frozen, waiting for the results of my grandfather’s surgery. I could never imagine my life without him in it. Even though I was in a semi-hypnotic fearful trance, I knew he wouldn’t wane. I knew this because the angels were watching over him. The evanescent white light radiating from the hallway was my peaceful sign that all would be right.

The doctors’ severed my grandfather’s chest that day, to mend his wounded heart. The angels guided the surgeon’s hands. As divine forces steadily cut open my grandfather’s chest, and crimson ran loose from his body, the angels restored his injured appendage. I didn’t have to see the operation; I sensed the calm in the operating room. The steady patter of surgeons and nurses, in clinical garb, calmly walking in and out reassured me of success. His heart was no longer attenuated but stalwart.

I believe in angels. Gold crowns of honor agleam, milky outlines that only saints possess, and faces so chaste that even Satin smiled at their presence, those were my angels. Celestial and cherubic in manner, angels guided the surgeons to snatch life away from death. The angels saved my grandfather’s life that day, and with it, they saved a piece of mine. By keeping him alive, and revitalizing his spirit, they made him stronger than ever. He once again became my impenetrable force of strength. Because of the angels, I can share with my grandfather, the greatest joys of my life.

I know that the will to live is stronger than any mystical being. One must have the passion, the desire, and the yearning to live. When beings fade, it is partially because they let themselves go. The angels have saved my grandfather and have made me stronger. I realize that while I cannot conquer all that I might confront; divine guidance can lead me to greater achievement.

I do not preach that misfortune comes to those who lack the faith of spirit. But, I do believe in the extraordinary strength of divine intervention in times of great personal trauma and need. Some may call hope a notion that has no foundation. I choose to believe in the miracle of science that extends life beyond that which seems possible. The angels saved my grandfather that day; they may have been dressed in green gowns and white masks, but, I know that peering out from their back were gilded wings and halos above.

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This week’s essay

Growing up in the former Yugoslavia, lawyer Djenita Pasic enjoyed the peace of her religiously diverse country. But after the fall of communism and the outbreak of the Bosnian War, Pasic was forced to reevaluate her ideas about religion and tolerance. Click here to read her essay.